KARACHI, Dec 24: In an unprecedented move, Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani sacked the managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Sajjad Abbasi, on Friday after he found him absent from work.

The minister gave verbal orders for the removal of Mr Abbasi at around 3.30pm on Friday during his visit to the water utility's main office, located at 9th Mile Karsaz, when he found him absent from his office. Mr Abbasi was said to be not attending to the complaints of the general public.

The LG minister directed the water utility's deputy managing director (technical services), Ali Mohammad Palejo, to take over as MD and told him that he would consult the Sindh chief secretary so that a notification regarding his appointment could be issued.

Eyewitnesses told Dawn that the minister got annoyed when some officials of the MD secretariat informed him that Mr Abbasi had neither been attending his office nor responding to the calls being made on his cellular phone for the last five or six days and, as such, people visiting him in connection with their work had been returning disappointed.